Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli Has Been Sentenced To Seven Years In Prison
You knew he was in trouble when even his lawyer said he wanted to punch the guy in the face.
The saga of Martin Shkreli, one of the most hated men on the internet, has finally come to an end. The former hedge fund manager and pharmaceutical executive famous for jacking-up the price of life-saving HIV medication, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for fraud.
The 34-year-old was convicted in August last year on charges unrelated to the price dispute. A Brooklyn jury found that he had misled investors in two of his hedge funds, MSMB Capital and MSMB Healthcare.
Shkreli cried in court before the sentence was handed down. He told the court that “the one person to blame for me being here today is me… I took down Martin Shkreli with my disgraceful and shameful actions.”
In handing down her sentence, Judge Kiyo Matsumoto cited Shkreli’s “egregious multitude of lies”, and said that while he seemed “genuinely remorseful”, he had also “repeatedly minimised” his conduct.
“This case is not about Mr Shkreli’s self-cultivated public persona… nor his controversial statements about politics or culture,” she added.
Matsumoto earlier revoked Shkreli’s bail after he put out a $5,000 bounty for a lock of Hillary Clinton’s hair. She said that the offer could be viewed as “solicitation of an assault”.
says a lot about our society that Martin Shkreli went to prison for defrauding investors but not for price gouging lifesaving medication
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) March 9, 2018
It wasn’t the first time Shkreli courted notoriety online. He was banned from Twitter for harassing journalist Lauren Duca, and drew the ire of music fans after he purchased a one of a kind Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. Fittingly, he will likely lose the album after being order to forfeit $7.36 million in assets.
Ahead of sentencing, Shkreli’s attorney told the judge there were times he wanted to punch his client in the face. Which seems like a not great strategy, but then again he’s the lawyer, not me.
I try to be a good person and seek justice and not be guided by anger or revenge or the desire to see someone – anyone – be hurt. But there is a dark side of me, and that side just spent ten minutes trying to find video of Martin Shkreli crying as he was being sentenced.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) March 9, 2018
I wanna get Martin Shkreli’s tears and sell them at an artificially inflated price.
— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) March 9, 2018